This invention relates to a food feed chute apparatus, and particularly to such apparatus adapted for feeding food products to a machine having a rotary cutting blade so that the products can be sliced. The invention also relates to a process for feeding a stack of disc shaped food products to a rotary cutting machine in such a manner that the products are fed smoothly and without skewing to the cutting blade. The present invention is particularly well suited for slicing bagels.
Several food feed chute devices are known in the prior art, but none are particularly well suited for feeding disc shaped food products, such as bagels, to a rotary cutting blade. A typical commercial food chute is a vegetable chute sold by Berkel Incorporated of La Porte, Ind., as illustrated in its advertising sheet Form 4012-R177. There is no recognition that the tube portion of the feed apparatus should have a particular size and shape relationship to the food product being fed.
The same disadvantage is associated with various feeding mechanisms set forth in the following U.S. patents relating to food cutters and feed devices therefor: U.S. Pat. No. 1,157,448, issued Oct. 19, 1915 to Stoltenberg; U.S. Pat. No. 2,209,295, issued July 23, 1940 to Hjelte; U.S. Pat. No. 3,774,487, issued Nov. 27, 1973 to Topliffe; U.S. Pat. No. 3,979,982, issued Sept. 14, 1976 to Cole; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,060,875, issued Dec. 6, 1977 to Gosling, et al.